Introduction and forward from the above document

Direct sales and short supply chain systems covers a wide and constantly evolving range of business models, but are primarily focussed on increasing the producers margin and security in the marketplace through direct relationships with customers. Widely used models include box schemes, CSAs, farm shops, online shops, farmers farkets, mobile shops, milk dispensing machines, milk rounds, local wholesale, restaurants, pick your own, and food networks or hubs.

These case studies have been produced by the Landworkers' Alliance and our members, with support from the Friends Provident Foundation. This is part of a wider project to support farmers and growers setting up or transitioning to direct sales and short supply chain systems. You can find further support resources on our website including guides to setting up and running businesses, business planning, finance and fundraising, best practice for Covid-19 safety and more. You can also watch our series of webinars on direct sales.

The Landworkers' Alliance is also able to provide some support and advice on direct sales and short supply chain models to members and farmers, growers, foresters and land-based workers transitioning to agroecological systems. If this would be of use please use the contact form on the member support page of the website and we will direct your enquiry to people best placed to assist you.

FORWARD
When we first envisaged this series of case studies we were aiming to showcase examples of direct sales and short supply chain businesses that can create viable livelihoods for producer’s, whilst creating social and ecological value. We wanted to give new entrants and farmers thinking of transitioning to these models an idea of the range of models and scales currently used around the UK, and some tangible examples to think with. Direct sales and short supply chains have been on the increase for a number of years as ways to create security in the face of falling farm gate prices, unpredictable trade regimes and changes in subsidies following brexit.

In the end this collection of case studies has been drawn together in the six months following the beginning of UK lockdown measures imposed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. These six months have forced dramatic changes on the UK food system and is leaving an increasing number of producers facing uncertain futures.

March 2020 saw an unprecedented increase in demand for food in the UK, with supermarket shelves lying empty, and rationing systems set up for some essential items. This was not just an inconvenience in our usually convenient system. People lost their jobs and homes overnight and were forced to food banks, with food bank usage nearly doubling in comparison to 2019. Supply from supermarkets to food banks dropped as more food was being sold in store, pushing some food banks to close.

At the same time, as much as £20million of fresh food destined for hospitality and schools was at risk of being dumped, and thousands of litres of milk were poured down the drain as dairy farmers lost their markets. For many people our supply chains broke down, exposing the weaknesses in the global, just-in-time system. As is so often the case farms were left with little support or security as prices and demand fluctuated.

Supermarket shelves didn’t take too long to return to normal, but at what price? Fears that thousands of tonnes of fruit and vegetables would go unharvested in our fields due to reduced ability of migrant workers to travel, drove an enthusiasm for a new British land army. Little attention was paid to the Romanian agricultural workers that were flown to the UK in the height of lock-down, without clear guarantee of safe working practices and accomodation.

Enthusiasm for the land army soon waned as reality bit. Labouring in our industrial agriculture system is rarely well paid, nor dignified. It is often dangerous.

It’s telling that many of the Covid-19 outbreaks that happened over the summer originated in food processing plants, where people were expected to continue to work long shifts in warehouses where social distancing is impossible to follow. Pay disputes followed as factories closed and workers, forced to self-isolate, couldn’t guarantee receiving sufficient sick-pay. Migrant workers are particularly at risk of being exploited in this system, afraid to declare feeling unwell or speak out for their rights.

Alongside this, financial pressure on smaller independent retailers intensified what was in many cases already a struggle to survive, while supermarkets sales surged and they benefited from rates holidays. In March the big grocers recorded an extra £1.9 billion in sales as shoppers made more than 79 million extra trips to their stores. Alongside the surge in demand the sector received a £3bn business rates holiday. For Sainsbury’s, share prices surged, the business rates holiday was worth more than twice the companies annual profits, while Tesco had a business rates bill of £700m, equal to 50% of its profits for 2019. Shortly after the rates holiday was announced the company increased its dividend by 60%, proposing a payout to shareholders of £637m.

Farmers did what they could to meet this demand, with some showing incredible resilience and adaptability by shifting from supplying restaurants to setting up box schemes in a matter of weeks. Many farms could not expand much beyond their existing capacity to meet the demand, or weren’t able to access financial support to make the kind of investment needed to upscale, falling through the criteria of many government finance schemes. Instead of scaling up, some of our members are investing their time in supporting training initiatives for new entrants with the aim of developing much richer and more collaborative short-supply chain systems.

Amidst the crisis, there were glimmers of something better. The case studies in this publication are examples of a better food system that shone through. In the first month after lockdown sales of small scale box schemes (<300 boxes per week) increased by 134%, with two thirds of these systems actively prioritizing key workers, vulnerable people or those who were self-isolating. These case studies reflect the experience of many of our members at the beginning of lockdown, with people getting in touch desperate for food but not able to go to the shops or access supermarket online ordering systems.

Direct sales and short supply chains allow farmers to create more secure demand and keep a far greater proportion of the food pound, as such they are a model for small-businesses that makes strong economic sense. In our current food system - where supermarket control pushes the price of food so low that a substantial amount of farmers now rely entirely on subsidies to keep afloat, and the future of those subsidies now unclear - creating a business model that is workable and isn’t reliant on subsidy, is a remarkable achievement in itself. It is likely that as supermarkets gain even greater control of food retail, and we face the likelihood of both tariffs on exports to the EU, and low-cost imports from the USA, more farmers will turn to direct sales and short supply chain models to regain some security in their sales and earn a bit more for their produce.

When we dig a little bit deeper into what direct sales systems mean for these case studies, we find much more to shout about than economics. For all of our case studies, capturing more of the food pound is never primarily for the purpose of profit. Direct sales allow their determined and driven effort to allow them to reinvest in their farm, to gradually regenerate depleted soils, support biodiversity, offer educational opportunities, and many many more benefits. Direct sales is also about building relationships with customers - with people - to develop a better connection between people and food. For the farmer to have a face, and for people to be able to have access to food that is good for them and our planet. It is ultimately about creating dignity.

It is clear that Covid-19 has already reshaped our food system dramatically, and that we face more shocks and changes in the coming years as our future trading relationship with the EU, and other countries through free trade agreements is negotiated. Covid-19 is not the last crisis we will see over the next few years. The climate crisis is now widely recognised as one of the biggest, if not the single biggest threat to food security. We need to act quickly to transform our food system to one that is more resilient, creates decent livelihoods for producers, and is based on principles of agroecology and food sovereignty. Direct sales systems offer one tool to help build the food system that we urgently need.

“We feel measuring success only in income is far too reductive as a host of other benefits are equally valued” Lutfi Radwan, Willowbrook Farm

1. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/uk-supermarkets-coronavirus-stockpiling-rationing-tesco-waitrose-toilet-roll-hand-sanitiser-a9385391.html

2. https://www.foodaidnetwork.org.uk/ifan-data-since-covid-19

3. https://www.london.gov.uk/press-releases/mayoral/mayor-urges-more-support-for-food-banks

4. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/mar/26/food-wholesalers-seek-help-over-unwanted-coronavirus-stockpile

5. https://www.farminguk.com/news/coronavirus-farmers-forced-to-dump-thousands-of-litres-of-milk_55377.html

6. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/15/romanian-fruit-pickers-flown-uk-crisis-farming-sector-coronavirus

7. https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/supply-chain/map-locations-of-uk-food-businesses-with-coronavirus-outbreaks/645657.article

8. https://unitetheunion.org/news-events/news/2020/august/banham-poultry-must-step-up-and-pay-self-isolating-norfolk-workers-adequate-sick-pay/

9. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/rival-retailers-demand-supermarkets-hand-back-3bn-business-rates-relief-nw255gfjj

10. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/08/business-supermarkets-government-rishi-sunak-coronavirus

11. https://foodfoundation.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Food-Foundation-COVID-19-Veg-Box-Scheme-report.pdf

12. https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2019/08/2f.-Chapter-5_FINAL.pdf